SCALE MODEL NEWS

WE FEATURED THE BANDAI AT-ST WALKER in July 2018. Here it is again, with a video to show you the way this delightful kit goes together. SMN report: Bandai does a good job with the AT-ST ( header, below ) and other Star Wars kits. Moulding is top-class, and the component fit is second to none. We draw the line at Bandai's attempt at a laser blast ( below ). It's moulded in transparent red, but lacks realism, and is better left off. On the other hand, it's your choice! Here's the excellent build video ( below ) that shows every detail of an out-of-the-box assembly. Click here for info on the AT-ST at SMN. Click here for more Star Wars in general.

MODELLED BY REVELL AT 1:32 SCALE, this is the largest conventional kit of the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, a mission achieved on 14 October 1947. The flight was made ten years to the month before the launch of the Soviet Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. Mat Irvine reports:  The Bell X-1 kit is of reasonably simple construction, the bullet-shaped fuselage being in just two halves. The wings are in upper and lower halves, but the smaller horizontal tail comes as a single component for each side. A plus point for the kit is that Revell includes a fully-detailed cockpit, complete with a seated figure of the pilot, Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager. He can fitted in place, or omitted, whichever you choose. The access door can be sealed shut, or left off. You even get the wooden stick Yeager used to help close the door – he didn’t let on to his bosses that he had broken two ribs the previous evening, making his movements somewhat impaired! Also supplied is the four-chamber R...

THIS HANDSOMELY PACKAGED 1:24 scale cab-over engine (COE) Chevrolet pickup truck from the 1950s adds a gleaming retro flavour to a neatly sculpted Wonder Woman figure. SMN report: The diecast truck is one of the DC Comics Bombshells range from Jada. The 1:24 scale gives it plenty of heft in the hand, and the included figure of Wonder Woman is a good size. The model is one of six, each representing a different vehicle/figure duo from the DC universe. The excellent packaging is a big draw for the range, figure and truck ( below ) both being firmly attached to the card base, but are easily removable when needed. One oddity is that the backdrop includes a flight of British Avro Lancaster bombers, to which we say "...wrong war, Jada!" Movie buffs will note that the film was set during World War I, the Lancaster being a veteran of World War II. And that's all true if this model was based on the highly watchable movie. But it's not. Instead, the range was inspired by a ret...